Sunrise Lake seems like a peaceful place.
Those who live in the lake development on both sides of Sunrise School Road just east of Sunrise Elementary School south of De Soto say it usually is.
However, seven residents of the community recently submitted written public comments to the Jefferson County Council complaining that as of late their tranquility has been disturbed by the ringing of gunfire.
“This is happening at all times of the day, even all night,” said Sheila DeGeare, who said she took over as president of the Sunrise Lake Property Owners Association a few months ago. “This is a beautiful place. There are lots of elderly people here on Social Security. They figured that this was their last move.”
However, DeGeare said, if something can’t be done to stop a couple of residents from shooting off their guns in violation of the subdivision regulations, there may be an exodus.
“This will cause the good people to move out,” she said. “I don’t want that.”
DeGeare and other residents said they submitted their comments to the County Council to raise awareness of their plight.
“We’ve been to the Sheriff’s Office, and they come out when there’s a complaint, then leave and then the shooting starts again,” DeGeare said.
Grant Bissell, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said there are no codes regulating the discharge of a firearm in unincorporated areas of the county. “There may be for municipalities, but there are none in the unincorporated parts of the county,” he said. “If people in a neighborhood are firing a weapon in violation of the unlawful use of weapons state statute, an arrest could be made and charges could be filed. However, if they are shooting responsibly, with a safe backdrop and are not shooting toward people or property that could be harmed, there is not much law enforcement can or would do, because it is not illegal.”
DeGeare said when the Sunrise Lake Property Owners Association was formed in 1965, its bylaws included a provision that prohibited firing guns in the development, except for around one of its four lakes during duck season.
“That’s when there were a lot fewer people here, and no one was living around that one lake,” she said.
Today the development has 180 to 200 homes, DeGeare said.
Somewhere along the line, the bylaws were amended to ban the discharge of firearms on subdivision property at all times, she said. However, DeGeare noted, she can find nothing in the bylaws that spells out a penalty for breaking the bylaws or any other enforcement mechanism.
The situation points out an issue that comes up from time to time – that county government is not by law entrusted with the duty of enforcing subdivision regulations.
DeGeare said the major problem stems from two young adults, adding that she approached one and told him he was violating the subdivision’s bylaws.
“I approached him respectfully, but he started cursing at me and told me I had no right to be on his property,” DeGeare said. “That’s as far as that went. The shooting has never stopped.”
The previous association president had confronted the other suspected offender, she said.
Carol Miles, who submitted one of the public comments, said one of the offenders shoots his gun in his backyard, “which borders the backyard of a home with children. These children are always playing in their backyard. You cannot tell me the possibility of a stray bullet hitting one of those children is minimal. This is a huge concern.”
DeGeare said she and the other residents submitted their comments in the hopes that the County Council may pass an ordinance that may help them. The council did not comment on the issue after it was raised at a meeting earlier this year.
“I guess I’m going to have to talk with an attorney to figure out what we can do and what we can’t do,” DeGeare said.